Work values and behaviors of middle managers in lean organizations: What does it take to sustain lean?

Although many firms have adopted Lean, values and behaviors for effectively sustaining Lean lack specification. Our research aimed to capture values and behaviors of highly effective Dutch middle managers in Lean firms. We had nineteen consultants of a Dutch consulting firm specialized in Lean identify Lean values and behaviors as well as names of highly effective Lean middle managers. We then interviewed, surveyed these so-selected six managers and their related managers, and video-observed four of them. As their key values they consider ‘honesty’ and ‘participation/teamwork.’ Their self-reported main behaviors are ‘actively listening to a person’s concerns’ and ‘building trust.’ From the objectively videoanalysed regular meetings we coded indeed mainly: ‘active listening.’ Clearly, our study addresses a new relevant organization-behavioral niche